The Advisors Alliance 大军师司马懿之军师联盟 - Episode 9 (Recap)

kakashi: Sima Yi gets pulled in deeper and it seems Cao Pi's patience is finally paying off ... bromance! Here it comes!
Panda: I am so afraid to get my hopes up, but it does seem like It's Happening!!
JoAnne: I LOVED this episode. Were you guys laughing at everything, too?

Episode 9

At the Sima household, Sima Yi explains to his wife that Cao Cao has little interest in Ji Bu, but is after his son. The problem is this: If Ji Bu doesn't go back (or Cao Pi doesn't arrest him), Cao Cao will remove his son from power. But the Simas also do not want to rat out Ji Bu, because they owe him a debt. What to do? A conundrum only Sima Yi can (and will) solve! 
I am so worried for- Ji Bu caught in a power play between father and son; and Cao Pi caught between a rock and a hard place. I am just happy they have Sima Yi in their corner.
Sima Yi can fix it! Sima Yi can fix anything!

The next morning though, Tiger General Cao Zhen appears (he's kinda hot)(I thought so too!) with a bunch of soldiers and orders an arrest of the criminal he suspects here; to help his brother! In the barn, Ji Bu decides to hide his lower face with a black cloth ("no one will recognize me this way", ahahahaaaaaaa), fight his way out, and then later, when he cannot implicate them anymore, he will turn himself in, he says. Oh that's gonna work great, Ji Bu. Zhang Chun Hua, brave as always, throws herself into the path of Tiger General, seemingly unfazed by being threatened with a sword at her neck.

I Love Chun Hua, she gets all fierce when people she cares about are threatened. And what in the world was Ji Bu thinking? Thank God these people have Sima Yi to be the brains in their corner. Cao Zhen is hot but brash as I am sure he is there without the knowledge of Cao Pi.
But awwwwww he wants to help his brother! (I am not quite sure how they're related exactly...he doesn't seem to be a Cao Cao son? Or is he?) And surely he knows that his father doesn't favor Cao Pi, so helping him is a big deal. Awwwwww.

Sima Yi - who also gets threatened by that sword - manages to get the hotheaded General to talk to him inside the house while Ghuo Zhao rides somewhere very fast. And then, Ji Bu attacks and overpowers the General inside the house! I'm glad to see that Sima Yi is quite amused by it because I sure didn't see this coming. It's to buy them some time, so that Ghuo Zhao can do what she was sent to do.
I wonder who A-Zhao went to call...
This was hilarious, honestly. The facial expressions, the positions they had to hold, all of it - I was laughing the whole way through.

Comedy interlude with a mosquito that sits on Mr. General's face that Sima Yi then slaps. It actually was funny. Also, after kneeling like this for quite some time, both men cannot walk anymore later. Also funny.
This was a genuinely hilarious scene. Poor General, his humiliation grows by the second.
Oh God, the mosquito. I would love to see the BTS of this scene.

After half an hour (or more), beloved Deputy Commander Cao Pi arrives. He lets Ji Bu go and orders the humiliated Tiger General to chill and leave - and keep quiet about things. The first blossoming of lovely bromance ensues! Sima Yi finally counsels Cao Pi! They need to be very cautious in this case, because Daddy Cao is just waiting to punish Cao Pi, whatever he does.
I feel this is a test for Sima Yi too. Cao Cao wants to be sure if he definitely is in Cao Pi's corner. I just hope there is a way to get all our guys safe at the end of this.
Well Daddy, he WASN'T...but now he is. Perhaps there's a prophecy or something. Are you holding out on us, Cao Cao?

At his home, Cao Pi catches his wife playing zither while tenderly holding a poem of Zi Jian. My darling isn't even angry - just disappointed she thinks him a brute who has no clue about poetry (which we know isn't true, he writes his own heated poetry). She thinks he doesn't like her, but he says that's not true - it's only that his fate and her fate are not controlled by themselves. So I guess he means to say: "why even try". And yet, I can't help it, I ship them...
That's what I said last ep!! The two of them just need to talk properly and they can make a good life and match. I don't want to yet I do when they are together. But then I ship Cao Pi and A-Zhuo too.. Sigh. 
I didn't think he was saying 'why even try' I thought he was saying something along the lines of 'it's not you, it's the situation.' The only thing to dislike about her is that she isn't the woman he loves, and he recognizes that this is not her fault or his. They are both pawns.

Cao Cao is getting ready for his next military campaign - he is fit for his age! - while Cao Pi hangs up a banner at the marketplace reading "humanity" and "justice" and holds a speech in front of two children and a chicken (funny) about how if Ji Bu, to whom the two words apply, will turn himself in before sundown, he will protect him with his life. This is all part of Sima Yi's plan, of course. Cao Pi settles down to wait.
Cao Pi expression looked part scared part resigned when he started talking. He trusts in Sima Yi's intelligence but it's still very dicey if the plan will work. However, he is smart enough to realize that that is the only option he has. His initial crowd- the kids and chicken looked very unimpressed though, I hope he has better luck going forward.
He really put himself out there - it must have been more and more embarrassing as the day wore on and the crowd grew. I am now 100% a believer that there is no way Cao Pi ever turns bad. And how cute are those kids?

The Madame is very much against Ji Bu leaving the safety of their house and she and Sima Yi fight (poor man: he is still so jealous! And she is vicious). In the meantime, at the market place, a crowd has gathered and several courtiers appear too to watch the spectacle... The sun is about to set and Cao Pi is getting visibly restless....but here he is! Ji Bu finally turns up. Cao Pi promises the chanting crowd that Ji Bu will not get killed. Everybody, including the courtiers, is much impressed with him. I just have a HUGE crush.  
Ji Bu is The Man. The end.
On BOTH of them. Can we get a Three Musketeers thing going here? Four? Add in the Tiger General!

When Cao Cao hears about the "pillars of justice and humanity", he seems impressed too... and knows that Sima Yi must be behind it (pffft, he knows his son is much more hotheaded). Still, he even has a smile for Cao Pi. And he says, he knows what to do tomorrow...
I am still a bit scared of his reaction.
He's the kind of guy to repay this brilliant show by his son not with respect but with betrayal. How come he encourages so much smartness around him EXCEPT here?

Comments

Sima Yi saved the day again! And Ji Bu's life - at least for the time being. I liked how Cao Cao just sat and ate and listened to the report about what happened at the market and immediately knew that Sima Yi was behind it - and seemed quite thrilled when he realized the extent of Sima Yi's cunningness. If he is playing a long game, he may not even have been after his son - but is still testing out Sima Yi.
Yup. I echo your sentiments about Cao Cao and Sima Yi. I feel the test was to know if Yi was firmly on Cao Pi's side. I admire the cunning plan Yi concocted but I still feel some apprehension about how it will all play out. And will Weasel just take this lying down? Mrs Cao Pi's life fills me with sadness. I pray she eventually finds some form of happiness.
What if all of this is a test of Cao Pi and Cao Cao's being a jerk to him is a way to toughen him for the road ahead and he really DOES want to make Cao Pi the crown prince?  Why would he seem to want to push Sima Yi and Cao Pi together otherwise?